Oath Keepers: Hutaree ‘Set Up’

Photo courtesy of <a href="http://hutaree.com/">hutaree.com</a>

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These guys make the Oath Keepers look like model citizens. The FBI raided a Michigan-based Christian militia group this weekend for allegedly plotting a campaign of violence against police officers, and to use WMD against Americans. The Feds claim the Hutaree “conspired to oppose by force the authority of the U.S. government.”

According to the indictment, “Hutaree members view local, state, and federal law enforcement as the ‘brotherhood,’ their enemy, and have been preparing to engage them in armed conflict.” So in order to oppose the government, the Hutaree targeted one of the Oath Keepers’ core consituencies: police officers.

You’d think this would turn Oath Keepers against this anti-cop militia. But according to initial responses on the group’s website, the anti-government ethos is strong enough to dispel “rumors” propagated by the mainstream media. Members were quick to call the raids a “set up” and potentially the start of a government crackdown on militias (which are constitutionally legal). Eric Hansen, for one, notes that the FBI raided a funeral where Hutaree members were “paying respects for a member who died recently.”

That sounds heartless. Until you look at the Hutaree’s detailed strategy to kill police officers. According to federal prosecutors, the Hutaree planned to murder a cop and detonate explosives at his funeral to increase the police body count. The indictment also states that the group planned to threaten police families, and place fake 911 calls luring cops into danger.

Later in the discussion thread, Hansen bets $10 that “the investigators will ‘discover’ child porn on at least one computer. That way it will turn public support away from those who have been arrested.” This was a reference to “patriot” hero Charles Dyer, a former Oath Keeper arrested earlier this year on illegal gun and child rape charges. Like the Hutaree, militia groups were quick to call foul and demand his release.

Structurally, Hutaree is incredibily similar to the Oath Keepers. They plan to oppose what they consider a rogue government, and are active on social media sites like YouTube and MySpace. But Hutaree’s core goals, murdering police officers based to religious dogma and fear of the Antichrist, are potentailly much more dangerous. Let’s be thankful that they don’t have the kind of institutional support in Congress and the mainstream media enjoyed by the Oath Keepers.

Here’s a video from Hutaree’s YouTube page:

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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